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DISH Seeks Change in Trial Venue - Analyst Blog

Recently, a legal representative of satellite TV provider
DISH Network Corporation
(
DISH
) has appealed before a New York District Court judge to change its
venue for trial - over the company's new ad-skipping feature - from
Los Angeles to New York. The court case was filed by major
broadcasters against DISH for illegally using the new AutoHop
technology, which allows users to skip commercials during TV shows.
Legal representatives of the TV network majors have decided to
pursue the infringement case in Los Angeles, thus resulting in a
fight over the trial venue.

It all began in May this year, when DISH Network launched a new
technology called Auto Hop, which allows users to skip commercials
at the time of watching recorded TV-shows. Introduction of such
technology has created a lot of tension among major TV broadcasters
like
Walt Disney Co.
's (
DIS
) ABC,
CBS Corporation
(
CBS
),
News Corp.
(
NWSA
) owned Fox network and
Comcast Corp.
(
CMCSA
) owned NBC Universal. The broadcast networks claim that the new
feature not only violates copyright laws but also significantly
jeopardizes their advertisement revenue. The end result was that
all the four major TV network companies filed a lawsuit against
Dish Network.

However, DISH Network believes that they have not infringed any
copyright law as the new service is similar to the DVR service that
provides flexible viewing of TV shows at their own preferred time.
Moreover, skipping of advertisement is possible only during
recorded programs and not at the time of live broadcast of the
show, hence the technology does not violate any contract agreement
with the broadcasters. Furthermore, the company sued the four major
broadcasting companies seeking a declaratory judgment on its new
product.

The courtroom trial venue between DISH Network and other TV
network majors is expected to be finalized next week.

Currently, DISH Networkhas a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a
short-term Hold rating on the stock. We are also maintaining our
long-term Neutral recommendation on the company's shares.

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